Burying The Capsule
by WildBeastOwner
Summary: When Kate and Tom dig up the capsule, it's full of memories. This story is about memories, true love and tradgedy. 3rd Chapter up, please R & R.
1. In The Tree

Two teenagers were sitting high in the branches of an oak tree. The girl had wavy brown hair, pulled back in a rough ponytail, her pants were torn and her smile was wide. She seemed excited, enthusiastic to be outside and free. The boy was more reserved with his emotions. He was reading, but occasionally looking up at the girl and smiling secretively, his hair hanging into his face.

The boy was sitting still on a branch, the girl was climbing higher in the tree, looking for the next branch to climb up on. She jumped and grabbed for the branch above her. She hung for a moment before pulling herself up. She looked around, taking in the view.

"You can see everything from here!" she gasped, "Tom, come up here!" She grinned down at him, six feet below here.

Tom looked up in awe. "Katie, how do you do it?" She laughed and shrugged. He smiled, tucked his book into his back pocket and swung up onto the branch beside her.

They sat still on the branch quietly for several minutes. Rain started to sprinkle down, lightly, though the sun never stopped shining.

Kate broke the silence, "What are you reading?" Tom grinned and pulled a small beat-up book out of his pocket.

"It's Romeo and Juliet," he passed her the worn, leather covered book, "it was in the fifty-cent box at the library last week. I liked the leather cover, it made it seem like it had a history, you know."

"Is it any good?" Kate flipped skeptically through the pages. She stopped on one page and read it, "It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks, Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east… What does it mean?"

"It's written in poetry. You have to take it slow, and from the beginning," he smiled, "Want me to read?"

She handed him the book, "Sure."

Tom's clear voice rang through the tree, "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life… Isn't that great?"

"I don't really understand it, but it sounds nice."

Tom laughed. "It's about two families, consumed by hate for each other. Romeo and Juliet are from different sides of the feud, and they fall in love. Eventually they take their own lives instead of facing lives apart. That's the basic idea."

"It sounds grim."

"Well, yeah, it's a tragedy, but, Katie, it's fabulous. It's about true love. And the passion of youth. It's amazing, because they're the same age as us right now, Kate. They were fifteen."

"What? Are you suggesting we kill ourselves?" Kate asked, smiling at the excitement in Tom's face.

"No. That's not the point. The point is, they were fifteen and they had true love, Katie. That's unbelievably rare. Don't you laugh at me, Kate Austin."

Kate tried to look serious. "Alright then Romeo, I, fair Juliet, will follow you. If this indeed be true love, be it true love," she said, exaggerating the Shakespearian language, hoping to make him laugh.

Her joke was followed by awkward silence. Kate blushed as she realized what she said must have offended Tom. She stared at her hands.

The light rain stopped, and the sun seemed to glow a bit more golden, a bit brighter. Kate dared a glance at Tom, but he didn't seem upset. He was chewing his lip thoughtfully, and staring at the book in his hands.

She looked into the sky and gasped. A rainbow stood out vividly against the sky. It shone crimson and emerald and violet, and all the colors between. She sensed Tom beside her, also in awe. That's the great thing about him, she thought, he is here with me just enjoying it. He likes being outside with me, just being. She smiled as she thought of her crush on him. It sounded so pathetic to call it that. A crush. A crush is like a scab, you can scrape it off with a fingernail, and it's not permanent. Her 'crush' was more like a scar. It was a deep, terrible, beautiful, and captivating thing. Like the rainbow.

"It's so...perfect," she whispered, not entirely sure she meant the rainbow.

"I love you, Katie," he whispered back.

She whirled to face him, eyes wide, "What?"

"I love you, Katie," he repeated louder.

She smiled, "Truly?"

Tom stood up on the branch, spread out his arms and yelled, "I love you, Katie Austin! With all of my heart!"


	2. Into The Ground

The late August sun was starting to set, stretching fingers of auburn, gold and purple across the sky. The comforting scent of newly mown grass hung heavy in the air, sickly sweet. Everywhere flowers in the colors of the rainbow poked up through the tangled field of long grass. The weather was the hot humid type, where sweat doesn't evaporate, and a fine dust clings to every inch of exposed skin.

Kate's hair was stuck to her face and neck, wet from a combination of swimming and sweating. She was wearing shorts and a ribbed tank top, the only clothes the weather would allow. Tramping through the grass with Tom, barefoot and holding his hand, she felt almost happy. The feeling that was always there, like she had just squeezed into a pair of pants that didn't quite fit, seemed to be gone. Her urge to move and be free felt almost satiated by his presence.

It had been almost an entire summer since The Day in the oak tree. Kate thought of The Day as a proper noun, as if it was a holiday. It had marked the start of a blissful summer. Together they had spent it barefoot in creeks, hiking through the foothills and sneaking kisses when they were alone. Today, they were returning to the tree.

They stopped beneath its branches, within the boundaries of its shade. Dropping the box he was carrying, Tom caught her second hand in his and leaned in towards her for a quick kiss. She was thrilled as her lips met his, as if she had never kissed him before. And then, just as quickly he pulled back, dropped her hands and grinned.

"Think we could still get up to that branch?" he asked.

She shot him a look, daring him to tell her she couldn't climb it. Moments later they had scrambled to the branch, finding it much easier now they had both grown a few inches. They sat on the branch in silence, catching their breath.

"Are you ready for this, Katie?"

"For what?"

"Burying this thing?" Tom motioned at the box he had left on the ground at the base of the tree.

Kate stared down at the time capsule below. They had spent hours choosing what would go in it. The time capsule had been Tom's idea, and she had teased him mercilessly about it.

"Believe me, Katie. Someday, you'll be glad I made you do this," Tom had said. Katie could not, for the life of her, envision a future where she would be glad they had made a time capsule, but she went along with Tom anyway.

The box contained a variety of things. A baseball cap, a tiny metal airplane that Tom treasured, tickets from a community dance they had attended together and other electric items, significant to their relationship. The last thing they had included was a tape deck. They recorded their voices, talking as they put their final choices into the box.

"This is Tom Brennan and Katie Austin," Tom had said into the microphone. Kate remembered how excited she'd been when Tom had told the tape deck he intended to marry her. She smiled a little as she thought of it.

"Katie, are you going to answer me?" Kate jumped a little, jerked back into reality.

She grinned at Tom, "Let's do it!"

It didn't take long to bury the capsule. It was buried twelve paces from the base of the tree, walking west.

When the capsule was in the ground, they sat at the base of the tree talking. Tom's arms were around her as she leaned back into his chest.

"Tom, do you really think we'll ever come back for this?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. We'll come back and we'll come at night, because it will be so much more important feeling that way. And we'll drive out here, and we'll be nervous because we'll wonder if it is still there, but it will be. And we'll get here, and maybe we'll be drinking beer while we dig. And you'll help dig even though you'll be this amazing woman then. And we'll pull it up out of the ground…"

Kate closed her eyes, and as Tom described the scene she could see it clearly. His voice was soothing, and as he talked he unconsciously stroked the cotton ribs on her tank top, his finger trailing along the perfect hollow of her breast. Her body tingled where he touched her.

"And Katie…"

"Hmmm?"

"Like I said earlier, I will be married to you then."

The tingling sensation immediately spread to the rest of her body.


	3. I Can't Go

The sun twinkled off the cars in the used car lot. Kate was behind the wheel of a stationary, white economy car. Tom was in the seat next to her, watching as she gripped the wheel. Her eyes were closed as if a movie was playing out behind the lids. It often seemed to him that she lived a more passionate dream life than reality. He noticed that she had changed a lot since the summer. She had blossomed from pretty to beautiful and her figure had filled out, though he could not remember exactly when that had happened. But she had changed in other ways, too. She smiled a little less often and she was always moving. It made him feel panicked, wondering if she was going to leave him. He worried he would look for her one day, only to discover she had gone.

He looked out the window and watched the people walking through the lot. It seemed to be swarming with people who were not looking at the cars. In a blue Jetta, a row over, a middle aged man with a wedding ring was kissing a young blond. A tall, thin teenage girl with an "I Went to Naboo and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" shirt was screaming at her mother, her speech riddled with curses. There was even a woman writing on the cars with a Sharpie. Tom doubted the owner would object or even notice if Kate drove the car off the lot now.

"Six days," Kate whispered.

"What?"

"Six days until I get my license," Kate opened her eyes, "and we can just drive away, Tom."

Tom laughed, "Katie, where are we driving to?"

"I don't know, away from here, anywhere."

"You can't just run all the time, Katie. You have to finish high school. What about college? Summer just ended, you can't run away two months into sophomore year."

"I can do what I want."

Tom sighed and let it go; he didn't like talking about Kate leaving anyway. Instead he leaned over in the car to kiss Kate.

"Don't," she turned her head.

"What?"

"Tom, we need to talk about this. Six days, Tom, we can't pretend it's never going to come. That we're never going to have to choose."

"We're not pretending."

"Please…"

"Okay, talk," he said smiling.

She scowled at him, "Don't joke about it."

"Fine. What's up?"

"Are you going with me?"

"Where?"

"Away."

Tom was silent. Suddenly, he hit the dashboard with his fist, "God damn it, Kate." She jumped. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm not... I just…" she was at a loss for words.

"You're so amazing, and perfect and wonderful, why won't you just let me love you?"

"I love you," her eyes were sparkling with tears ready to spill down her cheeks.

"Then stay with me, Katie. Don't make me chose."

She looked out the window, "I can't stay…"

"Why the hell not?" She turned to look at him, staring into his eyes. This angry out burst was uncharacteristic of Tom.

"Tom, you know why I _have _to leave. I need to move, get away from…" she paused, "_stuff_."

Tom was silent, "I can't loose you."

"You don't have to. Come with me."

"Katie, what about my dreams?" he was staring into her face, "I want to be a doctor, I can't drop out of high school. Things can't always be about you."

Kate flinched and looked away. "I have to go. Please, Tom. Please come with me."

Tom leaned back in the car seat and stared out the windshield. Kate watched a tear run down his left cheek. It moved like beads of water roll off a ducks back, never loosing its perfect, spherical shape.

Tom turned to face her, "I can't go Katie." He opened the door and got out of the car, slamming it behind him.

As he walked away, he didn't look back. Any moment he expected her to run up behind him and tell him she wasn't leaving, but she never came.


End file.
